NGIN Northwest Government Information Network Minutes: April 4, 2006

The Spring 2006 NGIN meeting was organized a little bit differently than usual due to the fact that the GPO Depository Library Council (DLC)was held in Seattle. Usually, the Spring meeting would've been held in eastern Washington, but all the officers agreed that it would be a unique opportunity for us to hold the Spring meeting in Seattle during the DLC Conference.

The meeting was held on Tuesday evening of the DLC conference and everybody was invited to attend. We held a reception from 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. and the meeting was held immediately afterward from 6:45 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. We did not have the usual business meeting, but did have two guest presenters.

Evening:

NGIN Members Pesent: Eleanor Chase (University of Washington), Robin Clausen (Tacoma Public Library), Carlos Diaz (The Evergreen State College), Linda Fredericks (King County Library System), Cassandra Hartnett (University of Washington), Herrick Heitman (Washington State Library), Jan Jorgensen (Central Washington University), Rob Lopresti (Western Washington University), Judy Solomon (Seattle Public Library), Marilyn Von Seggern (Washington State University), Lily Wai (University of Idaho)

Reception:
NGIN held a reception in the Renaissance Hotel following the last session on the third day of the Spring DLC meeting. Reception attendees were served refreshments and door prizes were awarded.

Twenty-six people remained for the presentations following the reception.

First presenter:

Nancy Hori, Supervisory Librarian, described materials and services available at the Pacific West Regional Library of the National Park Service located in Seattle Washington. The library is located in the Cadillac Hotel above the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. Information needs of all park employees (including engineers, blacksmiths, architects, etc.) are fulfilled by the library staff, and the public is welcome to visit.

Resources available online include a union catalog and online park history books .

Second presenter:

Liz Doyle, Contract Supervisory Librarian, provided a description of resources available in the library serving EPA region 10, and answered questions regarding the closure of EPA libraries.

Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington are the states supported by Region 10 of the EPA. The library, located at 1200 Sixth Avenue, Seattle, Washington, is open to the public. Subject areas that are considered collection strengths include: Puget Sound ecosystems, aerial photographs, air, environmental law, toxicology, soil sciences and wetlands.

At the beginning of the fiscal year there were 31 EPA libraries nationwide. During the past few months two libraries have been shut-down (in Edison, New Jersey and Fort Meade, Maryland), Region 5 and Region 6 libraries are scheduled to be closed, and staffing in the Region 9 library dropped from 4 FTEs to 1 FTE.

Information on the library is accessible from the EPA Region 10 website . Included are links to digital documents, and laws and regulations.